“Mom?” Cal made a beeline for the living room, where they found his mother on the sofa, flipping through a magazine. “What are you doing here?”
Emily rolled her eyes and rose to meet him halfway across the floor. “Good grief, Callum. Is that any way to greet your mother? The woman who’s been worried sick about you since she heard you were at the police station last night when the shooting happened?”
Cal hugged his mother and kissed her cheek. “Who told you?”
“Your father did. And he only knew because he was at the hospital last night when Matti brought a little boy into the ER.” She backed out of the hug and swatted at his arm. “Why did I have to hear something like that second hand?” She grabbed him with both hands then and gave him an intense up-and-down scrutiny. “And do you promise you’re okay? My God, three of my children—three—involved with a shooting and I have to learn about it hours after the fact from my ex-husband!”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Cal said evenly, while registering on some level her comment that she’d been in touch with Jonathon or vice versa. He recalled the conversation he’d overheard after theFourth of July picnic between his parents and added another tick to his mental checklist of curiosities for later.
Meeting his mother’s disgruntled stare, he added, “And I didn’t call because I wasa littlebusy dealing with the fallout.” He gave his mother a wry grin. “You know, of the shooting. Because I’m the sheriff.”
She flapped a hand. “I know. I know. But dear lord, Callum! Do you know how hard it is on a mother havingallfourof her sons in high-risk careers? How I dread a late-night phone call saying—” She raised a hand without finishing the thought. Instead, she cast a startled glance to the foyer door where Jules still stood, watching. “Oh, hello, Jules dear. I didn’t see you. How are you, darling?”
Jules twitched a half grin. “Fine, thanks. It’s nice to see you again.”
Cal propped a hand on his hip. “Mom…how did you get in? I didn’t think you still had a key.”
Emily faced him again and snorted. “I used the security code,” she said as if that should have been obvious. With a droll grin, she added, “I knew it hadn’t been changed. Your father would never let it be.”
Cal sighed. “Of course.” Stepping back from his mother, he said, “Can I get you anything? Tea or water? Maybe something with more kick?” He lifted his gaze to ask Jules the same question, but she was gone. And a gloomy voice in his head said,Better get used to it.
Jules moved to the dresser drawer in what she could only assume had been Matti’s or Kelly’s room once, based on the bright yellow paint and feminine decor. While she’d spent last night in Cal’s bed, going forward she’d sleep here until Abby could move with her to Canada. Might as well start nowwith habits she intended to carry forward. Leaving Red Grove, leaving this house, leaving Cal, would be far easier when the time came if she hadn’t gotten any more deeply rooted in his life.
And she would leave. As soon as Abby had time to process the new reality of Chase’s death and come to terms with the return of her safety, they’d both move out of town. If she was lucky, she could rejoin the University of Manitoba program at the start of fall semester. She could restart her paused research and—
A knock roused her from her planning. She glanced over her shoulder to find Emily, standing at the door, holding two glasses of a pale liquid. She extended one. “Lemonade?”
She didn’t really want the drink or the company, but neither did she want to be rude to Cal’s mother. She moved a cheek in what should have been a smile as she accepted the cold drink. “Thanks.”
Emily took a seat at the end of the bed and patted the floral bedspread next to her. “Want to tell me why you’re crying?”
Jules’s hand tightened, and she almost dropped the condensation-slickened glass. “Wh—”
She swiped at a cheek, stunned to feel the moisture there. What the heck? She wasn’t acrier.Well, atomic meltdown in the hospital parking lot aside, but…
She used her free hand to hurriedly blot the tears on her face. She could only assume she was still emotionally overstimulated and her thoughts about leaving town had—
“Cal says you visited your sister today,” Emily said gently.
Concerned that her voice wasn’t steady, Jules only nodded. To give herself something distracting to do, she took a sip of her drink…and choked as the burn of something that definitely was not lemonade seared her throat.
Emily quickly took the glass from Jules while she sputtered and coughed and caught her breath.
“Oops,” Emily said with a wince. “I think I gave you mine by accident. I had Cal spike it with tequila. Sorry, dear.” She stood and took a step from the bed. “I’ll get you a new glass.”
“Mmm,” Jules grunted. Dropping on the bed beside Emily, she reached for the drink. “No. I want this one. I just wasn’t expecting…the punch.”
Emily sat down again, nodding. “Yeah. It’s the unexpected punch that gets you every time, isn’t it?”
Jules took another sip, prepared this time for the tang of tart lemon and zing of the tequila. When she lifted her eyes to Emily, Cal’s mother wore an odd, knowing look.
An uneasy feeling wiggled in Jules’s chest. What was happening?
Emily put a hand on Jules’s knee. “I understand things didn’t go quite the way you’d hoped at the hospital with your sister.”
Her eyes widened. “Cal told you?”
“I dragged it out of him. He was uncharacteristically glum, and I was worried. And when he told me how things went, I became worried again…for you.”
